Security operatives in Jigawa State, in northern Nigeria, have arrested a couple who allegedly locked their 25-year-old daughter in a cage for five years.
The girl, only identified as Ummi, is said to be suffering from a mental illness and has been locked up in a room that served as a place to eat, bathe, and urinate.
Ahmed Shehu, Spokesperson of the Jigawa State Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps command confirmed the incident on June 6, 2023.
Shehu said the victim’s father, Garba Musa, 64, and her stepmother, Aisha Abubakar, were arrested for violence against their daughter.
According to him, the NSCDC operatives went into the house described to them and rescued the girl, who looked unkempt and depressed.
While responding to his crime, the victim’s father, Garba Musa, said he locked his daughter in a room because she was mentally ill and had become a problem in the neighbourhood.
In his defence, he presented a Hospital card obtained in 2013, 2014, and 2018 from a Psychiatric Hospital in Kazaure, Jigawa state, where she received treatment.
Shehu said that Investigations also revealed that the mother of the 25-year-old Ummi separated from the father, her husband, about 30 years ago and was denied visiting her Children despite having Six (6) with him.
“The Command is investigating the root cause of her mental illness going by the fact that she was healthy up to Junior Secondary School level before her disappearance and to also find a solution to end her suffering,” he said.
